Monday, September 1, 2014

I have tried my best to not expose Alon to television and gadgets too young. I was hoping to keep him screen-free until two years old but by the time he was one and a half, he was watching some television with us. Mostly Masterchef Australia. It was never interesting enough to keep him attentive for more than five minutes though. So I'm still generally satisfied with his amount of exposure.

I'm not against gadgets and screens per se but I hope to raise him more interested in activities and people than screens. Neither Jan or I are techies anyway. It has been working so far. He prefers playing with his friends over watching television. He likes playing with his toys and still can be cajoled into reading books.

Lately, I have allowed him to watch some movies and play with the iPod/iPhone. The main reason why this happened is because I've gotten so huge that I can no longer keep up in running after him. He's also gotten a bit demanding, asking me to carry or play with him more. I really wish I could but I'm a glutinous blob now and most of my movement is through waddling and rolling. I need more breaks now and somehow gadgets and TV helps me have it.

He never watches or plays unsupervised though. I make it a point that I explain what we see or ask him about what he's seen. There are times he would be so engaged that he would not respond but I try as much as possible to make sure he doesn't get into such a deep stupor.

He's seen quite a few movies already and it's interesting the things he's picked up from the shows.

Frozen. Olaf the Snowman is his favorite. Because of Olaf, he started eating carrots (because of the carrot nose), so hurray for that!

Cars. He absolutely loves it. He's known about Mater since Christmas since we gave him some small toy cars which included Mater and Lightning McQueen. He learned about traffic lights from the movie. Now, he likes waiting for traffic lights when we are on the road.

Despicable Me 2. Minions. Nuff said.

It was also only recently that I allowed him to watch or play educational games on the iPod/iPhone. He likes watching songs and playing. He seemed to have lost interest in it lately though. He hasn't asked to play "Puzzingo" in the past couple of days.

I got a new iPad mini. I was looking through some videos and he wanted to watch with me. I ended up showing him a video of a catterpillar transforming into a butterfly. It was not a kiddie video, but I was doing a commentary during the transformation. Much to my delight, when the video finished, he wanted to see it again.

Right now, I'm quite happy with our progress with the gadgets. He still prefers physical play and that's what matters to me. I put a time limit when he can watch and play with gadgets. He'd put a bit of a tantrum when we end but he can be easily distracted to pay attention to something else. At the same time, I get a chance to breathe for a while.

Let's see how it goes when I have a second baby to manage. I wonder if I can keep the new one screen free for long. Hah.